


A Second Chance (To Do It Right)

by WhereTheMuseGoes (paintedwolf)



Category: Ice Age (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Reference to Canonical Character Death, bit of blood and gore, graphic(ish?) nightmare scene, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 22:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12921936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedwolf/pseuds/WhereTheMuseGoes
Summary: They all thought Diego was dying on Half-Peak, and yet somehow, he's still alive. Manny asks the question, Diego thinks he has an answer. Among other things.





	A Second Chance (To Do It Right)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the producers of the first movie stating that Diego was definitely dying (maybe even did die) at the end there. Started out as a conversation between Manny and Diego about just how he survived after all, but kind of got away from me.

It was barely nightfall when Manny pulled them off the path they'd been walking ever since leaving Glacier Pass, and Diego looked up in surprise at the alcove the mammoth was steering them to. Embarrassingly, he hadn’t noticed they’d altered course until the shadow of the cave’s overhang fell across the snow before him.

He'd let Manny take over the lead hours ago, content enough with keeping his head down and focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, confident that Manny would keep them right until his tracking skills were next needed.

Diego knew Manny couldn’t see well in the dark, but now that they didn't have Pinky’s needs to attend to- and since Sid was already dozing comfortably on his perch behind Manny's head- Diego had simply assumed they would walk much deeper into the night. They still had a lot of ground to cover if they wanted to catch up with the last of the migration- at least four days’ brisk walk, by Diego’s estimation- so stopping so early seemed a luxury they couldn’t afford.

Then again, Manny _had_ tousled with three sabres earlier, and even if he didn’t look like it, maybe the mammoth was just tired.

Diego wasn’t about to argue, either. He wouldn’t admit it, but despite his earlier high spirits- that he now thought were mainly due to waking up _decidedly not dead_ \- the pain in his chest and side had been getting steadily worse the longer they walked.

As Diego looked around, he couldn't be sure if this was the same cave they'd spent the previous night in, even if it did look similar. He was vaguely alarmed by the realization that he didn't actually know precisely where he was for once. Despite what Manny thought, any time he’d been hesitant along the way to take the Squirt back to his people, hadn’t been because he was lost, but that he’d had to improvise a lot to make sure they didn’t cross paths with the humans- or his pack- before they were supposed to.

Diego again felt that odd squirm of shame that had become uncomfortably common in the last few days, but what was more prominent in his mind was that, despite his instincts, he wasn’t _actually_ worried about not being in control right now. Yet another difference between being in a pack, and being part of this strange little herd. He might not quite be ready to let his weakness be known, but even in the short time he’d known Manfred, he already trusted the mammoth far more than he’d ever trusted Soto.

He didn’t realise that his vision had started to swim until he felt the warmth of Manny’s trunk at his side, steadying him just as he was about to stumble. Diego glanced up at him, both embarrassed and grateful for the help, and Manny caught his eyes for just a moment, then moved on without a word.

 _Oh._ Either Diego had been underestimating just how perceptive Manny was, or he hadn’t been hiding his struggle with his injuries quite as well as he thought. Ego thoroughly bruised for the second time that day, he loped over to the far side of the cave and flopped down, not even bothering to disguise his relief at being off his feet.

Now that he was inside the confines of the alcove and could give it a closer inspection, the notable absence of Sid’s crude drawing on the wall confirmed that this was a different place to where they’d stopped before. Not that that gave him any further clarification as to where exactly they were- and he had no intention of asking.

Manny settled down on the opposite end of the cave, and reached up to unceremoniously plop a still-sleeping Sid on the floor next to him.

Diego watched with amusement as the sloth snuffled awake, mumbling a sleep-slurred, “Are we there yet?”

“Not even close, genius,” said Diego, with a little more bite than he really intended.

Sid narrowed his eyes, but if he was about to say something, Manny cut in before he could: “Hey, Lord of the Flame, think we can get a fire in here? I can’t even feel my feet anymore.”

“Why, of _course_ ,” said Sid indulgently, immediately setting out to once again make a display of his fire-starting prowess, only to stop about three seconds later.

“There a problem?” asked Manny seriously, though Diego could see from the way his eyes were crinkled that he was finding the whole thing quite amusing.

“There’s no wood,” said the sloth dramatically, as if he were commenting on some great tragedy.

“That’s a great observation, Sid. Why don’t you go get some?”

“Why do I have to be the one to get the wood?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’ve just had a nice long nap while Diego and I have been doing all the _heavy lifting_?” said Manny pointedly.

Diego couldn’t help but smirk at the scandalised look on Sid’s face.

“I am _not_ heavy,” insisted the sloth, but he got up anyway and headed out for the wood, “Geez, you get one ride from a guy and you hear about it for the rest of your life. And here I thought you were being _nice_.”

Diego could still hear Sid’s half-hearted grumbling for a good few seconds after he left the cave. Manny shook his head, but about a minute later, heaved himself to his feet and made to follow Sid.

“I guess I’d better go help him. Make sure he doesn’t get lost or something. You stay here.” Manny jabbed his trunk at him before Diego could even think about moving or saying anything, but the stern order was at odds with the softer look on the mammoth’s face.

“Try and get some rest while we’re gone,” he said gently.

Diego wanted to argue, to tell Manny he was fine, and didn’t need _rest,_ but the mammoth had already disappeared.

If a sabre had ever ordered him to ‘stay in the cave’ while they went out, he would’ve threatened them with their life. Tigers did have their pride after all, and any kind of vulnerability- even injury- was fair game for anything from teasing to real humiliation. No one wanted to hunt with a wuss, or risk coming home empty-handed because the guy next to you couldn’t carry his own weight.

And yet, like so many other things about this situation, Manny’s concern for his well-being didn’t really bristle all that much. The mammoth didn’t seem to think any less of him for being injured at any rate, which at least made a nice change from the over-frequent threats against his life he’d been getting from Soto the past few days.

Diego gritted his teeth. He couldn’t seem to stop comparing Manny to Soto, which was completely nonsensical since Soto was dead, for one, so Diego didn’t have to worry about his opinions anymore, and second, Manny _wasn’t_ his alpha. Was he? Well, okay, he couldn’t really dispute that Manny was kind of the de facto leader of this herd, but Manny was also his friend, and Soto had never been, and maybe that made all the difference?

 _Friends don’t betray friends, Diego._ The thought, unbidden, swirled around his head.

True, he’d never really had any _real_ friends before- not the kind who’d risk their life to save him from a river of lava, anyway- but Diego was sure that was right. Friends _didn’t_ betray friends. Friends didn’t try to feed their friends to hungry tigers in the name of revenge, either.

_But I’ve made up for that, haven’t I? I saved Manny’s life, and helped get Pinky and Sid to safety. And I’m here, aren’t I? Manny wouldn’t keep me around if he hadn’t forgiven me, right?_

A small clatter of rock on rock brought his thoughts back to the present, and Diego’s ears flicked toward the sound, which was followed seconds later by Manny and Sid arriving back in the cave. He let some of the tension that had crept into his muscles slide, as he took in the stack of logs Manny had curled in his trunk and balanced on his tusks, and the pile of what could be best described as kindling that Sid held in his arms. As the sloth busied himself with arranging his pile of sticks on the floor, Manny went to work stacking the logs near the entrance, ready for future use. His eyes raked curiously over Diego for a second before they refocused on his task in a way that had the tiger narrowing his eyes. He sometimes got the feeling Manny was staring straight through him and it made him anxious. He wasn’t sure if it was because Manny’s trunk covered much of his face, so you usually had to look at his eyes if you wanted to really decipher his expressions, or if it was just those eyes themselves, that sometimes held a such a depth of pain in them that they seemed to make Manny... _more_ somehow. More wise, more majestic; a greater, more foreboding presence than he already was.

It was the same when they’d been in that other cave, the one with the human drawings. Manny still hadn’t said what happened, but watching the way he reacted to the picture of the mammoth family, Diego had a pretty good idea of what it might be. Diego knew what that was like, because his pack had experienced the very same thing. And maybe he’d not lost anything quite so special as a mate and a cub, but he knew what it was like.

Yet Manny had still been able to look at Pinky so softly, and hold him close, and love him, when all Soto had done was seek vengeance, and order the death of a child who- human or not- had been innocent in it all. Diego’s stomach churned now at the thought of it, and it frightened him to think that if he hadn’t met Manny and Sid, that he probably would have done everything Soto had asked of him; and for what? Soto’s praise, such that it ever was? So that his alpha could savour the taste of sweet revenge while Diego got nothing more than to live with knowing he’d led a mother and her baby to their deaths? A cold shiver rumbled through his body, followed by an odd prickly feeling, like a swarm of ants crawling down his back. How could he have been so stupid?

“Hey, Diego. I know you need to keep those claws sharp, but I’m not sure digging them into a rock floor is gonna help much.”

Manny’s voice reverberated through the cave, and it took a beat or two before Diego understood what he was saying. Slowly, he retracted his claws, looking, confused, for a second at the shallow gouges they’d scratched into the ground in front of him. He hadn’t even noticed that he’d done that. Neither had Sid, apparently, which Diego was grateful for, as there was a sudden small whoosh, and the fire came to life.

“Lord of the Flame strikes again,” said Sid, kissing the piece of soft rock still in his hand and looking immensely pleased with himself.

“Oh, hey. Let’s all hail the conquering hero,” said Manny drily.

His eyes flitted away from Diego, offering him a reprieve- _for now_ , the knowing gaze promised- and Diego breathed a small sigh of relief.

He had to force himself, bit by bit, to relax, trying to ensure his troubled thoughts disappeared along with the tension in his body. His right side, however, remained stubbornly tense and stiff, so he carefully shifted further onto his good side and rested his head on his left paw. The change of position alleviated the pain somewhat, but his head ached, and his wounds throbbed a march in time with his heartbeat.

He wasn’t going get much sleep tonight. He closed his eyes.

_The human female was looking at him determinedly from the edge of the cliff. The glint in her eyes was a challenge, even as she clutched the brown-wrapped bundle tightly to her chest. Diego growled, low and triumphant- she had nowhere to go. He roared and pounced, feet pounding the ground as he ran for her. She jumped at the same time as he did, but he was too fast for her, and his teeth sunk into the cloth tucked into her arms. Warm blood flooded into his mouth, tangy and sticky. He turned to find Soto, to tell him he’d won him his prize._

_A loud, high-pitched shriek filled the air, enough to make Diego’s sensitive ears ring, and when he looked up he was face to face with Manny, brown eyes boring deeply into his own._ _Another shriek rang out- terrified, haunted, crying. Diego clutched the side of his head, begging for the horrible screaming to stop. His jaw went slack, loosening his hold on the soft bundle. It rolled a few feet away from him._

 _Diego looked in horror as dark brown hair fluttered across small, sightless,_ innocent _eyes._

_“Diego! Diego, help me!”_

_Manny was backed up against the cliff-face, trapped as Diego’s entire pack surrounded him, swiping and snapping at him with teeth and claws._ _Diego tore his eyes away from the blood-soaked pile in front of him and twisted towards his friend’s distressed cries for help._

_Sharp, searing pain shot through him and he tumbled to the ground. Suddenly, Soto stood above him, teeth and jaws dripping blood._

_“I told you you’d be serving yourself up as a replacement,” Soto grinned menacingly, and raised his paw. Diego turned his head just in time to see Manny fall, Sid lying in a heap next to him._

_Pain exploded once more in his chest, and Diego gasped._ _Desperately, he pushed his hind legs out, felt them connect with Soto, but before he could do anything else, they were tumbling towards the edge of the cliff._

_Diego’s body collided with something hard and cold._

He woke with a start, halfway to standing before he took in the cave walls and the softly crackling fire. _A dream. Just a dream_ , he thought.

But he couldn’t seem to breathe properly, and the cuts on his chest burned and ached. Diego couldn’t help the low keening sound that crawled up his throat as he clenched his eyes shut against the pain. This was worse than when he’d been dying! His legs finally gave out and he slipped back onto the floor in a heap. He hadn’t even had a chance to spare a thought for Manny and Sid until something soft touched his shoulder, and Diego flinched at the sudden contact.

“Hey, take it easy, partner. It’s just me.”

Diego didn’t look at him, didn’t want to see those all-knowing eyes, but something in him calmed by inches when the touch- what he now knew to be Manny’s trunk- shifted to rest pressed against his heaving ribs. He focused on that spot, on the light, warmer-than-normal pressure, like Manny had been sleeping with his trunk curled and pressed close to him, and how Diego knew that he didn’t know, but it helped and he suddenly didn’t feel like he was drowning anymore, and the pain slowed down to sore-but-manageable.

Manny eventually pulled his trunk away, but he was still standing close, his shadow looming over Diego’s prone form, eyes wide and...worried? Scared? Diego was too tired to tell, but he knew he had to say something, if only to get Manny back to the other side of the cave.

“I’m okay, Manny,” he said on a sigh, eyes just darting over to catch the mammoth’s, before flicking away, “Everything’s fine now.”

It wasn’t, really, and Diego wasn’t even sure why he said that, but Manny was still staring at him, and he just...had to say _something_. Manny settled down again, this time on the same side of the cave as Diego, and within trunk’s reach.

“So, trouble sleeping, huh?” Manny asked gently, eyes focused on the cave wall.

Diego couldn’t help wonder if Manny was hedging around asking some other question, but then it occurred to him that Manny was _awake_ , and a quick glance across the fire showed Sid snoring away, tongue hanging out of his mouth (Diego envied him). So either the mammoth was having ‘trouble sleeping’ too, or Diego had woken him with his own restlessness. Manny didn’t look like he was in a hurry to go back to sleep, either, no matter what the cause of his insomnia. He didn’t like that he might be costing the mammoth some well-earned rest, but right now, Diego was so wrapped up in his own troubled thoughts, he wasn’t sure he could spare anything to ease Manny’s, and he would be lying if he said his friend’s presence didn’t make things seem just a little better. It was selfish, too, he thought, as he dropped his head down to rest on his paws.

“I was dreaming,” he said quietly, watching the flames flicker in front of him. He didn’t offer more than that. It was almost easier when he thought he wasn’t going to make it. All he’d had to worry about was the kid getting back safely. Now there was Soto, and his death, and the pack gone and doing who-knows-what, and this whole whatever-it-was he had going on with Manny and Sid...

“Diego-” Manny shuffled a little, but his gaze remained stubbornly on the cave wall. Diego watched him curiously.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, “About your pack- your...family.”

“It’s okay, Manny,” he said, “They weren’t my family. Well, not really. They were all I knew for a long time, but...it’s different being in a pack. The only person who watches your back is you. No one would have risked their life to save me the way you did.”

“But they still meant something to you.”

It was almost more question than statement, and just the tiniest bit persistent, as if Manny _needed_ to know what it was the pack meant to him. There was something, _guilty,_ in it too and...Oh. _Of course_ Manny had been the one who’d killed Soto. There was no one else it could’ve been.

“The thing is,” he said, voice just more than a whisper, “I never wanted to kill the kid, you know, but Soto was...he would’ve killed me if I hadn’t, maybe cast me out of the pack at best. Sabres aren’t built to go it alone, but-”

“You didn’t have a choice.”

“But, I did. You showed me I did, Manny, and I was so close to taking the coward’s way out.”

“You didn’t. What you did- jumping in front of me like that- that was pretty brave, if you ask me.” Manny’s eyes crinkled into a fond smile, and Diego looked down, still not sure he deserved that.

They were silent for a while after that, the crackling of the fire and Sid’s soft snores the only sounds as they each returned to their own thoughts. Diego kept feeling like he should say something to Manny, but he couldn’t seem to find the words, or figure out if he should be thanking him or apologising or reassuring him that it was okay, and he understood that he’d had no choice with Soto.

Manny finally broke the silence.

“Hey, uh, I gotta ask…what happened back there? I- we- thought you were a goner.”

Diego cast his thoughts back to Half-Peak. He’d been trying to avoid thinking about it _too_ much, mostly because a lot of it was confusing, but also because he couldn’t remember ever being as frightened as he’d been in that second or two when he’d woken from being knocked out to see Soto moving in for the kill. He knew exactly what the alpha-sabre was going to do, knew precisely which critical mistake Manny would make that would ensure his death; but he also knew, more certainly than he’d known anything until that point, that he wasn’t going to let the mammoth die.

“Yeah. Honestly, I did too,” he said, remembering how tired he’d felt, and numb. “When I closed my eyes- I really thought that was it, you know? But then somehow, I woke up. And it was like...you ever been in a really deep sleep? And you wake up and you know you’ve been dreaming, but for a few seconds you can’t really tell what’s real and what isn’t? Except, when I went to sleep, I was sure I was...dying, and when I woke up, I just wasn’t. I can’t really explain it.”

“Maybe you just weren’t hurt as badly as you thought,” said Manny, practically, but Diego didn’t miss how his eyes seemed to fall on the exact right spot where the gashes were, still mostly hidden amongst the fur on his chest.

“Maybe. It sure felt like it though.”

Diego didn’t really think that was true, but he wasn’t sure how else to put it. How was he supposed to tell Manny what he really suspected, when he wasn’t even sure he believed it himself? Nine lives or not, stuff didn’t just come back to life. And in any case, of all the things he’d seen die, and those he’d killed himself, why him? Diego wasn’t quite ready to start looking for answers to questions like that.

“Well, whatever happened,” Manny broke into his thoughts, “I’m just glad you’re okay. Really.”

“Thanks, Manny,” said Diego, “That uh...well, it means a lot, so thanks.”

 

~

It seemed like he’d only closed his eyes for a minute, but when he blinked awake, he was alone, and there was no sign of Manny and Sid. They must have listened to what he’d said about leaving him there and getting the kid back in time and Diego was pleased. Maybe a little sad that, after everything, he wasn’t going to see this thing through to the end, but he’d got to say his goodbyes, and that was at least something.

None of that explained why exactly he was conscious again, when only a few minutes ago, he’d honestly thought he was dying. At least, he _thought_ he was still alive- not that he’d know what being dead was actually like.

His vision was still a little fuzzy and his thoughts slightly sluggish, but he could tell that the white that surrounded him was the familiar white of snow-covered everything, and if the uncomfortable cold-wetness beneath him was anything to go by, he was definitely still in the same spot he’d fallen. A quick sniff of the air brought with it the pungent smell of fresh blood, and the fading scents of mammoth, sloth, human...and tiger. Another blink cleared away most of haze clouding his mind, and one more inhale of that mix of smells brought everything back in clear relief: him and Soto fighting, jumping in front of Manny, a high pitched squeal. A quickly abandoned attempt to move, his mind still caught up in trying to _protect_ , even though his body had already given up, and he’d collapsed back into the snow.

He wasn’t sure of exactly _how_ Soto injured him, only that it hurt, and that it was _bad_ . Still hurt, _a lot_ , now that he was thinking about it, kind of like that time he’d been kicked by a yak while hunting, only several times worse. But he clearly wasn’t dying if all his senses were working the way they should- not like that quiet darkness he’d sunk into earlier- and instead of his body feeling heavier by the second, Diego thought that he actually might be able to stand.

It took longer than he thought it might, and he was panting heavily by the time he was fully upright on shaking legs, but once his head stopped spinning, he quickly determined that walking would be manageable if he took it slow and careful.

Sid was right, he _could_ lick this. He was a tiger, after all. And if he left now, maybe he could still catch up with them, maybe even in enough time to see the kid before they got him back to the other humans.

He didn’t get very far before he spotted the reddish fur floating in the breeze. His stomach did a strange little flip, and he limped closer, suddenly feeling very cold. He hadn’t wondered until then what had become of the rest of his pack.

_His pack._

It was a simple, thoughtless turn of words, but for the first time since this had all started, Diego knew they weren’t true. They weren’t _his_ pack. Not anymore.

His eyes roamed over Soto’s unmoving form, taking in everything and nothing at once. The keened-eyed observer, who was trained to notice the smallest details, took in everything about the way the icicles had impaled Soto’s body, where they hit vital organs, which one was the one that killed him. The rest of him looked on impassively, wondering why the sight of his leader’s broken corpse left him feeling nothing at all.

Not feeling anything when confronted with death was supposed to be for prey. For the nameless, faceless and to-be-eaten. Not for the once-alpha of his former pack.

Diego growled low in his throat. Everything was upside down and the wrong way round. He wasn’t supposed to be defending mammoths, and befriending sloths and worrying about human children. Shouldn’t even know their names.

And he certainly wasn’t supposed to be turning his back on his kind because of it.

He wasn’t supposed to _care_.

But...he did care, and he’d done all of those things, yet somehow it still felt like it was right.

Soto wouldn’t have thought so. Well, Soto wouldn’t have thought highly of him no matter what he’d done; whether he’d served Manny and Sid up as appetizers before he could enact his final revenge on the humans like a good little tiger, or failed his mission completely. He certainly wouldn’t have understood, not if Diego had spent the rest of his life explaining it, how a sabre could’ve become friends with his prey.

 _Soft,_ is what Soto would call it. _Weak. Pathetic._

Diego dipped his head, no longer had any will to _look_ , and his eyes fell for the first time on the angry, red claw-marks that had carved into his chest, already oddly scabbed over and barely visible in between tufts of thick fur. Those would scar, he thought, and he’d carry them for the rest of his life.

But as what? A mark of courage for saving a friend, or a mark of shame for betraying his own?

Diego didn’t know the answer to that, wasn’t sure of much of anything anymore, except for perhaps a desire to at least finish what he’d started; this journey that seemed to have cost him so much, but maybe, _just maybe_ , if he could see how it ended, stood to give him even more in return. Whatever it was to be, Diego wasn’t going to find what he was looking for here, up on this hill with Soto’s body and his own blood staining the snow behind him.

It was time to move on.

He got there just in time to see Pinky carried away by his father, and to share one last game of _Where’s the Baby?_ before he was gone. And Sid and Manny were...well, Diego couldn’t remember the last time someone had been so pleased to see him, or that he’d ever felt as at home as when he was walking beside Manny, alternating between teasing and rolling his eyes at Sid’s inane, non-stop chatter.

“Hey Diego, you coming, or should we start looking for a decorator?”

Manny was looking at him with eyes raised from where he and Sid had stopped a few feet away, waiting for him patiently. He didn’t know what had made him turn back as he’d walked out of the cave into the morning air, feeling, not better precisely, but more sure that he was doing the right thing. Diego took one last look behind him, at the gnarled spires of Half-Peak, then turned to Manny and Sid.

He might have lost a pack, and a lot of his pride, and very nearly his life, but he had gained two friends. Two _good_ friends.

Maybe, it was all worth it.

“Yeah, yeah,” he called, and hurried to catch up with his herd.

 


End file.
